


Melting

by xiujaemin



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, switched packages
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2014-12-30
Packaged: 2018-10-18 22:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10626102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xiujaemin/pseuds/xiujaemin
Summary: Jongin only wanted to stay at home all day and play Super Mario, but someone just decided to mess up the packages and get some ice cream and sunny smiles involved in-between.





	

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgVHtDY24t8) mv

  
Minseok accepts the package that the delivery guy hands him, smiling in gratitude because he’ll never have to worry over what gift to give his nephew a week from now. He thanks the man and receives a polite bow in return. Minseok doesn’t know if the man was smiling because he was still wearing his helmet over his head, but he liked to think that the guy smiled back.

He settles back on his seat as the guy heads for the door and starts opening the package, careful not to leave any tears on the box. When he finally manages to open it, however, he receives the shock of his life, for what greets him isn’t a set of children’s books but a set of animal-printed lingerie.

He quickly shoves the things back in the box, hand moving to immediately close the lid. None of his roommates would have seen since they were in front of their own desks, reviewing for their upcoming tests for midterms and minding their own business, if only Jongdae didn’t have to be such a brat that’s quick to notice things. “Hey hyung, did you just order _lingerie_?”

All three other people in the room stop midway from what they were doing and turn to look at him at the same time, and he feels as if he’s been caught red-handed doing a malicious crime, even if he was actually the victim here. “What are you talking about?” Minseok’s voice shakes as he feigns innocence, and a bead of sweat slides down from his forehead despite the tight smile plastered on his face.

“Animal-printed lingerie. In that box the guy delivered.” Jongdae is quick to point out, ignoring the telepathic message Minseok is trying to send him, which sounded along the lines of _“Shut up, don’t drag me along your death list, I wasn’t the one who accidentally shaved off all of your cat’s hair that one time, that was Baekhyun”._ “B-cups, if I’m correct.” He even says this observation out loud.

Baekhyun, for all the obnoxiousness that he has laughs out loud, saying something about kinks and asking if Minseok was also into roleplaying. Junmyeon looks like he wants to say something, but catches himself and looks back down on his desk, the tips of his ears turning red.

“Shut up, or else…” Kyungsoo says quietly, but it is loud enough for everyone to hear, and it’s enough to make Baekhyun shut up. Minseok is greatly thankful for Kyungsoo’s existence and Baekhyun’s fear of him, but he wasn’t spared the shame of being branded as the guy who had a fetish for animal printed lingerie (and the great possibility of role-playing).

He dials Yixing’s number, hoping that his best friend isn’t like his traitorous roommates and proves himself useful by giving some bit of advice to help him in his predicament, but Yixing’s phone keeps on ringing, the owner seeming to have abandoned the device and not having much thought of answering the damned phone.

Minseok sighs. Maybe he’s supposed to do this himself, after all.

❅

“Kim Jongin!” his sister calls from her room, and he simply shrugs, continuing to fiddle with the controls of his game console. Moments later, he hears the sounds of footsteps getting louder and louder every second, and in record time, his older sister is blocking his view of the television, children’s books in hand. He presses the pause button, looking up at her from where he is seated on the sofa. She looks murderous.

“Do you know what these are?” She thrusts her hand to give him a full view of the books, and he sneaks a peak at the one on top of the bunch. _St. Antoine de Exupery’s the Little Prince._

 __“Uh,” Jongin stares at them dumbly, before shrugging. “Books?” he tried to add helpfully.

“Yes, Jongin, these are books,” she sighs exasperatedly. “But these are not what I ordered.” He shrugs again, which could probably have him killed, knowing that his sister’s fuming mad. “I have no idea what you ordered, I just handed you what the delivery man gave me.”

“Then go get it back.” She hisses.

“Nah,” he says, resuming the game. “I’m good.”

A muscle jumps in her cheek and her eye twitches at her brother’s indolence. This is, after all, the first time that he’s defied her autocratic rule over the household. “You do know that since I’m the second eldest in this family, I’m the one in charge while unnie and our parents are away, right?”

Jongin’s tongue sticks out of his mouth in concentration, and he narrows his eyes, trying to focus with what’s left of the view he has of the screen instead of his sister, who’s mostly completely blocking his view. His attempt of gaining a new high score in Super Mario is getting completely out of hand. “Mmhmm.”

“So you should listen to me. And I say, get the fuck out of here and go get me back that package, or else no chicken for a month!” She lashes out, and Jongin thinks that it would have been better to go fight a dragon than face off with his sister, who’s more or less Satan reincarnated. Now he remembers why he has always followed her mandates back when they were little— she turns into a demon when you ignore her or do the opposite of what she wanted.

“You should’ve stayed in college even after graduation,” he mumbles mostly to himself as he stands up. She shoves the book to him and he quietly accepts, because her glare alone that seemed to burn holes through his skull was enough of a force to keep him silent.

He mentally begs for his eldest sister to come back from work immediately and drag their parents along with her even if it meant that she would disturb their well-deserved cruise just because Jongin thinks he might go insane with his other sister around.

❅

“Is this place even right?” Minseok turns his head from side-to-side, looking like a lost preschooler despite having worn one of his neatly-pressed shirt-and-tie combos as he had headed straight for the location he’s been texted right after a report he had to comply for a class requirement (“damned Saturday classes,” he tells himself). He brings out his phone, checking if the address he was given had been right when he receives a light tap on the shoulder.

He turns his head to find sleepy-looking eyes in just the right shade of dreamy brown looking back at him, lips formed as if to ask a question.

“Yes?” It’s Minseok who asks and breaks the awkward silence between them first, because the other guy seems reluctant to be the one to say anything first.

“I, uh…” the guy starts, seeming unsure of what to say. “The package…” a bright shade of pink spreads along his cheeks and his nose twitches, his sentence left hanging in the air. Minseok waits, thinking that the guy’s going to finish what he’s saying when it occurs to him that that _is_ all the guy has to say because he’s embarrassed. But of what?

And it’s then that Minseok remembers the reason why he’s standing right there, in front of an ice cream shop along the side of the road: the switched packages. _Right._

_Wait—animal printed lingerie?? This guy??!!_

__Minseok begins looking alarmed as he makes the connection. The guy still looked quite young—almost near his twenties, maybe?—that it just seems weird that it had been him who ordered the package. “You—?” he clears his throat because his voice just rose a few octaves higher, and it may have sounded like he’s walking along the borderline to hysterical. “You were the one who ordered the lingerie?” he lowers his voice down to a conspiratorial whisper, because he has no idea how to rephrase the question without it losing its meaning nor say it out loud without sounding accusatory.

“N-no!” the guy stutters, waving his hands to deny Minseok’s assumption. “No it’s not—I wouldn’t—of course not—god,” he rakes a hand across his hair, and Minseok couldn’t help but notice how good-looking the stranger is, weird lingerie fetishes and all. He covers his face in embarrassment, and all Minseok could think of is how cute the said guy is. “It’s my sister’s. She basically kicked me out of the house just to get the package back.”

Jongin doesn’t know what response to expect from a man who’s thought that he’s into lingerie with wild animal prints, but it’s definitely not a laugh, with the man’s eyes crinkling into little crescents, pink gums and small teeth showing. “I understand. I’m Minseok, by the way. How about we go in and eat for a bit?” And he most definitely didn’t think he’d get an introduction and an invitation to eat, either.

“Jongin,” he answers automatically, still dumbstruck.

❅

The air is bathing in awkwardness, and despite the fact that the entire place was air-conditioned, Jongin could feel the heat seeping through his face, not because of the uncomfortable tension of having to face a man he’s barely known, but because of the fact that this new acquaintance is looking at him with an unnervingly kind (and undeniably attractive) smile he couldn’t quite categorize.

Minseok is about to open his mouth to say something to say something to alleviate the unnecessary yet expected discomfort and lessen his companion’s unease, when the server finally arrives, putting down two bowls of ice cream in front of them. That seems to break the spell holding them suspended in complete silence, and Jongin couldn’t help but dig in first, not because he’s _that_ hungry or because he’s been craving for ice cream that much, but because he wants to cover up the fact that he’s embarrassed to have this stranger before him and is determined to not look at Minseok by hiding his face through burying it in a bowl full of the dessert.

“So Jongin… You’re in high school?” Minseok’s question takes him by surprise that he ends up choking on his ice cream, with the whole ordeal ending with Minseok rising from his chair out of concern and rubbing soothing circles on Jongin’s back, while the younger one pounds on his chest to stop his coughing fit. Minseok calls for a cup of water, patting Jongin’s back lightly. The drink arrives, and Jongin takes it immediately, gulping it all up. He wipes his mouth dry with the back of his hand, just as Minseok asks him if he’s alright.

He nods in assurance. _Never better._

 __Minseok pats him on the back once more, touch lingering a little bit longer than it should have been. He returns to his seat, and Jongin almost complains out loud, missing the warmth of the older man’s hand on his back. He stops himself, a blush almost creeping into his face.

“So I guess you’re not comfortable with talking about your age and fetish for animal-printed lingerie?” Minseok tries again, to which Jongin’s cheeks turn an interesting shade of red and indignantly splutters out, “That wasn’t mine!”

Minseok laughs that laugh of his once more, hints of that carefree smile evident on his face; that same cheerful smile that made him look even younger than he actually looks; that same smile that caught Jongin’s attention and held him fast. “I’m just kidding. You seem all tensed. Relax, it’s not like I’m here to drag you off and sell your organs to the black market.”

Jongin thinks he’d prefer hearing “drag you off and ride on horseback with you to the sunset as we fulfill our lifelong wishes by marrying each other”, but that’s just him, and you can never have everything. And also he’s probably really that much smitten and he should pinch himself awake because _why did he even think of that scenario._ You can’t just go marrying a man you just met, right?

“Uhm… You first?” Jongin tells him, and Minseok looks like a lost bunny for a moment (this, Jongin thinks, might be what he looks like once he’s puzzled) before he realizes that Jongin meant for him to introduce himself first before anything else.

“Ah, of course, of course,” he nods in understanding and clears his throat to begin his story. “I’m studying architecture in Yonsei. The books were supposed to be for my nephew’s seventh birthday, but the packages got mixed up so…” he shrugs, trailing off. Jongin nods in understanding, knowing full well what happened to his nephew’s books.

“What else?” he taps a finger to his chin in a thoughtful manner. “Would you like to know my favorite color? Hobbies? Motto in life?” Jongin realizes that he’s been staring too long when Minseok starts popping questions that have been ripped off from a slum book and he doesn’t have the heart to tell the man that his joke could barely be even called as a joke. “Favorite song, favorite band…?”

Clearly, from the way he seems to be mulling over most of his words before saying them out loud, Minseok isn’t much of a talker, but Jongin finds comfort in the fact that he’s trying to be friendly, even to the extent of trying to make jokes (even if quite a handful of them are half-assed, only taken over by his winning smile) to make the mood lighter.

Jongin shrugs, this time with a lighthearted smile. “Why not, right?”

It isn’t easy for Minseok to rattle off to a stranger (one of the reasons why he’s amazed at how Baekhyun manages to say more than five sentences to a complete stranger and more than an entire page of words to the people he’s acquainted with), but with Jongin, he finds it easy to keep the information flowing, never mind that he doesn’t know the kid, and vice versa.

“I’m still in high school,” Jongin supplies, and Minseok nods. _Just as he had thought._ “And I still don’t know what to do with my life yet, even if I’m about to graduate already, but it doesn’t matter that much yet, anyway.” With Minseok, everything began as an awkward introduction, but somehow, Jongin finds it easy to open up to him. Maybe the sunny smile and encouraging nod is what helped.

Their conversation continues even if they’re on their way out hours after they’ve finished eating their ice cream, sharing stories of themselves and the people they know.

They finally exchange the switched packages (the reason why they’ve been there in the first place), and Jongin somehow regrets that he hasn’t forgotten bringing the books with him, because he might never get to see Minseok again.

Minseok’s smile wavers a bit when he realizes that this could be the first and last time that they get to see each other, but then there’s a playful smile on the his face when he finds the right words; a smile that Jongin doesn’t quite know where to place yet.

“So, same time tomorrow?” Minseok asks, a little hopeful, a little sure that Jongin would say yes.

Jongin smiles, because he has never even considered no as an option. Maybe he’d have to thank his older sister for once.

❅

The delivery guy chuckles from where he is standing, motorcycle propped up behind him. His helmet has finally been removed from his head, and if only Minseok has seen him, he would probably recognize the man behind the messed-up delivery service and would realize that it has all been a set-up.

Yixing, pats the metal box attached to the back of the delivery motorcycle and grins at the prospect of his next project. After all, Minseok still has four other roommates that are single, right?


End file.
